Having to stay indoors for that long a period of time has its challenges. At first, the idea of being able to just huddle up with a stack of books or movies, a warm blanket and a supply of hot chocolate may sound like paradise. After a few days, however, it does start to get redundant. Also, once you have raided the cupboards and the frig for several days in a row, your supplies start to dwindle and you have to ask yourself that all important question: "Do I want to risk frostbite just to go to the store, or can I make do with what I have until it warms up?" I, of course, being of sound mind and possessing the ability to adapt when faced with the threat of physical discomfort, opted for the latter. I just take my cue, as always, from nature. Nature has mastered the art of making do.
The animal world that stays around these parts in the winter, rather than following the migration of birds, animals and humans to warmer climates, spends the Autumn stocking up for occasions just such as these (as a side note: those folks who went south got hit with more snow than we did and temps almost as cold - so much for migrating south). They make do with what they have and wait it out, knowing that no storm, or cold snap, can last forever. The same holds true of those things in life that feel very much to us like getting hit with a massive storm, ones that seem to last forever: unemployment, a death, an illness, financial woes, you name it. Trying to "go south" and run away from it doesn't help. That's like saying that as long as you ignore it and put your focus somewhere else, it doesn't exist. The flaw with that logic is that, sooner or later, you'll wake up one day to a foot of snow and frozen water pipes. Nope, the best advice to facing the storms of our lives is to stock up on the essentials - faith, forgiveness, affirmations, intentions and commitment - and make do until spring comes when we get to take part in the rebirth of ourselves and our beautiful world.
As for me, I went online and found new ways to use chickpeas in very imaginative ways, and make it okay to have veggie burgers for breakfast when the oatmeal, fruit and toast ran out. I also discovered, digging through my tea cupboard all the way to the back when I ran out of my favorites, that I had several varieties of teas I didn't even know I had, and was pleasantly rewarded for my efforts with a nice pot of something new and delightful! As for running out of books, seriously? Flower Bear has enough books to open her own library, both physical books as well as digital. After all, you just never know when the next deep freeze might come along!
Stay warm and well!
And so it is!
